No Texting Law – PA Auto Body Repair Business Says It’s About Time

Pennsylvania Law Banning Texting While Driving Is Finally In Effect

Today (Thursday, March 8th 2012) any driver in PA that texts while they’re driving can be pulled over for the primary offense of violating the new “PA No Texting Law”. This will hopefully mean less distracted driving, more attentive drivers and therefore less car accidents. So why would an auto body repair shop like CollisionMax be happy about this law going into effect? Is it because they’re against technology and want to force society back to the Stone Age? No.

The Last Text

AT&T has a road safety ad campaign about people whose lives have been altered by texting while driving. It basically tells about a message that read “where u at”, which was the last text message Mariah West read before she died when her car left the road and crashed into a bridge. Overall the message is “No text is worth dying over”. CollisionMax, an auto body repair company spread throughout NJ and PA, has seen its share of wrecks caused by inattentive drivers. Some of these vehicle collisions resulted in an occupant ending up seriously injured in a hospital… some resulted in a driver or passenger death.

The Stats

In 2009, Virginia Tech’s Transportation Institute did a study on the correlation between texting while driving and an increased risk for a crash. If you drove your vehicle while text messaging, your risk of a crash or near crash event would be 23.2 times as high as non-distracted driving. The video below is a graphic Public Service Announcement shown in the U.K. to drive home the message of distracted driving… VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!

The Law

In the PA law against texting while driving, texting means the reading, writing or sending of any text-based message not just from your cell but laptops and PDAs. This includes instant messages (IMs) and emails. You’re allowed to read, write or send after the vehicle is stopped. Getting caught means a $50 fine… and this is a primary offense, so there doesn’t need to be any other reason the officer pulled you over.

Who we are

Founded in 1976 with one shop in NE Philadelphia, CollisionMax has grown to 10 locations in PA and NJ. Every CollisionMax location is I-CAR Gold Class Certified, making its auto body professionals some of the most highly trained in the collision repair industry.